The Normativity and Legitimacy of CSR Disclosure: Evidence from France

Jean-Noël Chauvey, Sophie Giordano-Spring (), Charles H. Cho and Dennis M. Patten
Additional contact information
Jean-Noël Chauvey: MRM - Montpellier Research in Management - UPVM - Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - Groupe Sup de Co Montpellier (GSCM) - Montpellier Business School - UM - Université de Montpellier
Sophie Giordano-Spring: MRM - Montpellier Research in Management - UPVM - Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - Groupe Sup de Co Montpellier (GSCM) - Montpellier Business School - UM - Université de Montpellier
Charles H. Cho: ESSEC Business School
Dennis M. Patten: Illinois State University

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: In 2001, France became one of the few countries to require corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting through its Nouvelles Régulations Économiques #2001-420 (NRE). However, initial compliance with the statute was low, a factor implying the law lacked normativity. In this exploratory study, we attempt to determine whether there is movement toward normativity by examining the change in CSR disclosure from 2004 in comparison to 2010 for a sample of 81 publicly traded French firms. We measure both the space and the quality of CSR disclosures, including in the latter a measure based on informational quality attributes as discussed by the International Accounting Standards Board, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, and the Global Reporting Initiative. We find significant increases in the space allocated to CSR disclosure, as well as some evidence of increased quality; although the informational quality of the disclosures remains quite low and fewer firms are including negative performance information in their reports. Finally, we document that differences in disclosure space and quality in 2004 appeared to be associated with legitimacy-based variables and that those relations remain largely unchanged in 2010. As such, it appears that the NRE's goals of increased transparency remain unmet.

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility; Sample Firm; Global Reporting Initiative; Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting; Environmental Disclosure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-09
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (80)

Published in Journal of Business Ethics, 2015, 130 (4), pp.789-803. ⟨10.1007/s10551-014-2114-y⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02009500

DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2114-y

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().